Try searching for various RAID functions. search <google> using <raid drive mirror> or merely <raid> >>RAID, short for Redundant Array of Inexpensive Disks, is a method whereby information is spread across several disks, using techniques such as disk striping (RAID Level 0) and disk mirroring (RAID level 1) to achieve redundancy, lower latency and/or higher bandwidth for reading and/or writing, and recoverability from hard-disk crashes. Over six different types of RAID configurations have been defined. A brief introduction can be found in Mike Neuffer's What Is RAID? page. << http://www.raidtoolbox.com/whatcanraiddo4u.html offers a suggestion >>Drive Failure in RAID 1 or RAID 0,1 Situations We have just learned that RAID 1 or mirroring is using half of the hard drives in an array to keep an identical image of your data, thus making your data a lot less sensitive to hard drive failures. Let's see how FastTrak66 handles a failing drive when running a RAID 1 or RAID 0,1 array. We simulated a hard drive failure by simply pulling the power connector of one drive while the system was running. Here the FastTrak66 showed one major flaw that is due to its IDE support. A SCSI RAID controller wouldn't have this problem. The failure of one drive in a RAID 1 or RAID 0,1 configuration will in most cases cause the other drive connected to the same channel to fail as well. The reason for this behavior is rather simple. Most drives, es e.g. IBM and WD hard drives, have different jumper settings for 'single drive', 'master drive' and 'slave drive'. If one hard drive of the same channel fails, the other slave or master drive suddenly becomes a 'single drive'. Unfortunately the jumper settings of the drive don't represent that status and so it fails as well. This means that you must run 1:1 mirrors only by connecting each drive to a different IDE channel, because otherwise both drives will fail and you won't get anything out of the mirror-situation. << . . . http://www.tomshardware.com/storage/20000329/fastrak66-10.html Paul Studly Cleveland/Chesterland, OH paulstudly@studly.net -----Original Message----- From: John S. Wilkinson [mailto:jwilkins@twcny.rr.com] Sent: Tuesday, December 31, 2002 7:52 AM To: FAMILY-ORIGINS-USERS-L@rootsweb.com Subject: RE: [FO] Backing up Files to CD-R Does anyone know of a program to automatically mirror a directory to another hard drive? Have A Great Day John S. Wilkinson WILKINSON, McCOTTER, GREENWELL - Maryland DELAMAR, McCOTTER - North Carolina mailto:jwilkins@twcny.rr.com -----Original Message----- From: Joyce Ragels [mailto:jragels@comcast.net] Sent: Tuesday, December 31, 2002 1:43 AM To: FAMILY-ORIGINS-USERS-L@rootsweb.com Subject: Re: [FO] Backing up Files to CD-R Allan All your arguments are true except for one - again rare occurrence - the failure of the cd writer itself. In that case you still have magnetic scarecrows. I used to use both CDRW and CDR. With the cost of CDRW so cheap, I save to zips and then burn to CDR. I'm not sure there is a sure fire method of being totally safe. Most of us screw up from time to time and then pay the price. I haven't backed up many of my file except for FO since the first of Nov even when I know that a hard drive can blow at any time. You still have a good system because you sound like you are doing it often. So on any medium, that fact alone will safe most of us. J Allan Plucinik wrote: > Yes, it is true that CD-RW media is usually only readable on the same unit that burned the CD. But I still think it is a good backup. Because even if the worst case scenario happens where my PC is dead as a doornail, all is not lost. I have two options: > > 1. Eventually my PC is going to be repaired so I'll have access to my hard drive again or even if I lost all data on the hard drive, at least I still have the data backed up on the CD-RW disk. The CD-RW drive will be operational again. > > 2. I buy a new PC or use another PC that is available to me. In which case I remove the CD-RW drive from the old PC and install it in the new PC including the same CD burning software. There shouldn't be any problem restoring the data. This might seem like a lot of work, but this type of scenario should be a very rare occurrence and hopefully unlikely to happen anyway. > > As for needing a CD-R disk in order to share data with others, yes the CD-RW disk won't be very useful. In that situation I would simply burn the data to a CD-R on an as-needed basis. The data on CD-RW disk is intended for my own personal backup & restore, not for sharing data. > > Allan Plucinik > Colorado Springs, CO > > Tom Longman wrote: > > >>One important reason to use CD-R instead of CD-RW is that CD-RW media is usually only readable on the same unit that "burned" the CD, and often times requires that same program as was used originally when writing the CD. This can easily preclude sharing the CD with others, but also means that you might not be able to read your CD on your CD-ROM drive, should you have to replace the unit for whatever reason. >> >>Tom > > > > ==== FAMILY-ORIGINS-USERS Mailing List ==== > GETTING THE MOST OUT OF FAMILY ORIGINS by Bruce Buzbee - FO DEMO > http://formalsoft.com NO WEB ACCESS? Write to FormalSoft@aol.com for ordering information. > > -- Joyce Ragels Tucson Arizona USA Let us so live that when we come to die even the undertaker will be sorry. - Mark Twain ==== FAMILY-ORIGINS-USERS Mailing List ==== GETTING THE MOST OUT OF FAMILY ORIGINS by Bruce Buzbee - FO DEMO http://formalsoft.com NO WEB ACCESS? Write to FormalSoft@aol.com for ordering information. ==== FAMILY-ORIGINS-USERS Mailing List ==== Searchable ARCHIVES - http://listsearches.rootsweb.com/cgi-bin/listsearch.pl?list=FAMILY-ORIGINS-U SERS